«H 


F 

83S 
T95 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

•o 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


HISTORY 


PIONEER  SETTLEMENT 


PBELPS  AND  GORHAM'S  PURCHASE 


MORRIS'  RESERVE 


EMBRACING   THE   COUNTIES  OF 


MONROE,  ONTARIO,  LIVINGSTON,  YATES,  STEUB] 
MOST  OF  WAYNE  AND  ALLEGANY,  AND  PARTS 
OF  ORLEANS,  GENESEE  AND  WYOMING. 


fO   WHICH   IS  ADDED,  A   SUPPLEMENT,   OR  EXTENSION   OF   THE   PIONEER   HISTORY   OF 

MONROE  COUNTY. 


THE    WHOLE    PRECEDED    BT 


?OME   ACCOUNT    OF     FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    DOMINION — BORDER   WARS    OF   THE    REVOLU- 


TION— INDIAN   COUNCILS   AND    LAND    CESSION 


58   OF   SETTLEMENT 


WESTWARD    FROM    THE   TALLET   OF  THE  MOHAWK — EARLY   DIFFICUL- 
TIES WITH  THE  INDIANS— OUR  IMMEDIATE  PREDECESSORS  THE 
SENEGAS — WITH    "A    GLANCE    AT    THE    IROQUOIS." 


BY  0.  TURNER, 

[AUTHOR  OF  THE  "HISTORY  OF  THE  HOLLAND  PURCHASE."] 


ROCHESTER: 

PUBLISHED     BY     WILLIAM     ALLING 


F855 


P~rro!<-     ' 


212  PITELPS  AND  GORIIAM'S  PUKCIIASE. 

In  1805,  I  was  erecting  my  frame  house,  and  wanted  <rla*s  and  nails 
I  w.-nt  with  ox.-ii  and  >K-d  to  Utica,  carrying  50  busli,-]s,,f  wlu-at.      [sold  it  for 
$1,68  per  bushel,  to  Watte  Shennan,  a  merchant  of  Utica,  and  paid  isdper 
pound  for  wrought  nails  ;  $7  50   for  two  bo\,-s  of  n-lass.* 

It  was  pivtty  easy  for  young  men  to  smnv  farms,  i 

^ttlement.     I  knew  many  who  revived  a  dollar  a  day  for  their  labor,  and 
bought  lands  for  twenty  live  cents  per  acre. 


A  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  Manchester  in  1804;  the 
first  Trustees  were  :  —  Ebenezer  Pratt,  Joseph  Wells  and  Jeremiah 
Dewey.  This  was  the  first  legal  organization,  a  society  had  been 
formed  previous  to  1800.  Judge  Phelps  gave  the  society  a  site  for 
a  meeting  house,  and  in  1806  Deacon  John  McLouth  erected  a  log 
building.  In  1812  or  13,  the  stone  meeting  house  was  erected° 
Rev.  Anson  Shay  organized  the  church,  and  remained  its  pastor 
for  25  years ;  he  emigrated  to  Michigan,  where  he  died  in  1845. 
The  Methodists  had  a  society  organization  as  early  as  1800.  hold- 
ing their  primitive  meetings  in  school  and  private  houses. 

"  St.  John's  Church,  Farmington,"  (Episcopal,  at  Sulphur  Springs,) 
was  organized  by  the  Rev.  Devenport  Phelps,  in  1807.  The  offi- 
cers were:— -John  Shekels,  Samuel  Shekels,  wardens;  Darius 
Seager,  William  Warner,  George  Wilson,  Archibald  A.  Beal,  Davis 
Williams,  Thomas  Edmonston,  Alexander  Howard,  William  Pow- 
ell.f 


GOLD  -BIBLE— 


it  in  itecareer,  ai  .i 

Kauvoo,  I' 
I'll  : 
M"" ''  II.     He  iiist  s«-t!k-d  in  or  near  Palmyra  village,  hut  a 


*  "Mr.  RrdfirM  h  • 
r>.  Gil »s« 'M.  tin-  •well  known 


-tore  Mil.    It  is  Tiijulo  out  and  signed  I'.v  Honry 
'.kcr.  who  M';:S  thu  bonk  krrix.T  in    S!M.T- 


tne  early  Hotel  keeper  ;u  iM-m-va.    Tlic  t\vo  brothers  had  cri-cu-d  a 
public  house  at  the  Springs,  and  William  was  tliu  landlord. 


PHELPS  AND  GOTHAM'S   PtfBCIIASE. 


early  as  1819  was  the  occupant  of  NUMC  new  land  <.n  ••  Stailord  >tre.-tM  in  the 
town  of  Manchester,  near  the  line  of  Palmyra.*     "Mormon  Hill  "  U  n.-ar  the 
plank  road  about  halt'  way  between  the  villages  of  Palmyra  and  M.meh.-ter. 
The  el<ler  Smith  had  been  a  Universalist,  and  subsequently  a  Mcth.-di.-' 
ft  good  deal  of  ik  amatterer  in  Scriptural  knowledge:  but  the  seed  of  iwela- 
tion  \\.-is  sown  on  weak  ground;  he  was  a  great  habbW,  credulous 
daily  industrious,  a  money  digger,  prone  to  the  marvellous;  and  withal,  a  lit- 
tle gneii  to  difficulties  with  neighbors  and  petty  law-suits.     Not  a  u-ry  pro- 
pitious account  of  the  father  of  a  Prophet, — the  founder  of  a  >tate;  but' there 

wa>  a  "  woman  in  the  case."     However  present,  ill  matt. MX  , ,t'  ,_-• [ , ,,.  ,,vil ! 

In  the  garden  of  Eden,  in  the  siege  of  Troy,  on  the  field  of  Orleans!  in  the 
dav.  Ming  "f  the  Reformation,  in  the  Palace  of  St.  Pet. -rsburirh.  and  Kremlin 
of  Moscow,  in  England's  history,  and  Spain's  proudest  era;  and  here  upon 
this  continent,  in  the  persons  of  Ann  Lee,  Jemima.  Wilkinson,  and  as  we  are 
about  to  add,  Mrs.  Joseph  Smith!  A  mother's  inilueures;  in  the  world's 
lii>tory,  in  the  history  of  men,  how  distinct  is  the  impress! — In  heroes,  in 
statesmen,  in  poets,  in  all  of  good  or  bad  aspirations,  or  distinctions  tiiat 
single  men  out  from  the  mass,  and  give  them  notoriety;  how  often,  almost  in- 
variably, -are  we  led  back  to  the  intiueuces  of  a  mother,  to  find  the  germ  that 
has  sprouted  in  the  offspring. 

^  The  reader  will  excuse  this  interruption  of  narrative,  and  be  fold  that  Mrs. 
Smith  was  a  woman  of  strong  uncultivated  intellect;  artful  and  cunning;  im- 
bued with  an  illy  iv«vulated  religious  enthusiasm.  The  incipient  hints,  the 
first  givings  out  that  a  Prophet  was  to  spring  from  her  humble  household, 
came  trom  her;  and  when  matters  were  maturing  for  denouement,  she  gave 
out  that  such  and  such  ones — always  fixing  upon  those  who  had  both  money 
and  credulity — were  to  be  instruments  in  some  great  work  of  new  revelation. 
The  old  man  was  rather  her  faithful  co-worker,  or  executive-  ox  p.  neiit.  Their 
son,  Alvah,  was  originally  intended,  or  designated,  by  fiiv>ide  consultations, 
and  s.  >lemn  and  mysterious  out  door  hints,  as  the  forth  coming  Prophet.  Tho 
mother  and  the  father  said  he  was  the  chosen  one;  but  Alvah,  however  spir- 
itual lie  may  have  been,  had  a  carnal  appetite;  eat  too  many  irr.-eii  turnips, 
sickened  and  died.  Thus  the  world  lost  a  Prophet,  and  Mormonism  a  leader; 
the  designs  impiously  and  wickedly  attributed  to  Providence,  defeated;  and 
all  in  co-Nismonce  of  a  surfeit  of  raw  turnips.  Who  will  talk  of  the  cackling 
t  Rome,  or  any  other  small  and  innocent  causes  of  miirhtv  events  af- 
er  this?  The  mantle  of  the  Prophet  which  Mis  and  Mr.  Joseph  Smith  and 
one  Oliver  Cowdery,  had  wove  of  themselves — every  thread  of  it— fell  upon 
their  next  eldest  son,  Joseph  Smith,  Jr. 

^  And  a  most  unpromising  m-ipient  of  such  a  trust,  was  this  same  Joseph 
Smith,  Jr.,  afterwards,    "Jo.  Smith."     He  was  loun^in^,  idle;  (not  ; 
vicious)  and  possessed  of  less  than  ordinary  intellect.     Tin-  author's  own  re- 
collections of  him  are  distinct  ones.     He  ii>ed  to  come  into  the  \ ilia- 
Palmyra  witli  little  jags  of  wood,  from  his  backwoods  home;  sometimes  pat- 
ronizing a  village  grocery  too  freely;  sometimes  find  an  odd  job  to  do  about 


*  H.TO  the  author  romi-mln-is  to  have  first  swn  the  familv.in  the  \viuter  of  '19,  '20, 
in  a  rude  log  house,  with  but  a  small  spot  underbrushed  around  it. 


PIIELPS   AND  GOEHAM8   PURCHASE. 


the  store  of  Seymour  Scr-vell ;  and  onco  a  week  lie  would  stroll  into  the  oflice 
of  the  old  Palmyra  K.-gist.-r,  tor  his  father's  paper.     How  impious  in  i: 
"dare  DevW  *  to  once  an.l  a  while  blacken  the  face  of  the  then  meddling 
p  inquisitive  lounger— but  afterwards  IVphet,  with  the  old   fashion. -d   halls 
when  he  Used  to  pur  himself  in  the  way  of  the  workiiv  of  the  ,,1-1  fashion.-,! 

Rainage  p«»!    The  editor  of  the  Cultivator,  at  Albany- 

may  justly  consider  himself,  for  hi-  subsequent  enterprise  ami  usefulness,  may 
think  of  it^with  eontritioU  an.l  repentance;  tliat  he  once  he]p,,l,  thus  to  di>- 
figure  the  far.-  of  a  lYoph«-t,  an.l  remotely,  the  founder  of  a  State. 

But  Joseph  had  a  HtUe  ambition;  an-!  laudable  aspirations;  the 

mother's  intellect  .occasionally  shone  out  in  him  feebly,  ••-pceially  uhm  he 
lised  to  help  us  solve  some  portentous  questions  of  moral  or  political  ethics, 
^in  our  juv.-nil.-  .l.-l.atin.of  club,  which  we  moved  down  to  the  old  red 
hous-  on  Durtee  street,  to  uVt  rid  of  the  annoyance  of  critics  that  u*-d  to  drop 
in  ui)on  us  in  the  village;  an<l  subsequently,  after  catrhinira  s]>ark  of  M,-tho- 
dism  in  the  camp  meeting,  away  down  in  the  woods,  on  the  Vienna  road,  he 
was  a  very  portable  exhoiter  in  «»vt'iiinLr  iiuvr 

Legends  of  hidden  treasure,  had  long  d«-ign:;t..-d    Mormon  Hill  a.s  the  de- 
po>itory.     Old  Joseph  had  dug  there,  and  young  Joseph  had  not  oniv  . 
his  father  and  mother  relate  the  marvelous  tales  of  buried  weal  h.  buti 
companied  his  father  in  the  midnight  delvings,  and  incantations  of  the  spirite 
tliat  guarded  it. 

If  a  buried  revelation  was  to  be  exhumed,  how  natural  was  it  that  the  Smith 
family,  with  their  credulity,  and  their  assumed  presriitiment  that  a  Prophet 
was  to  come  from  their  household,  should  be  ronin  <  ted  with  it;  and  that 
Mormon  Hill  was  the  place  where  it  would  be  found. 

It  is  believed  by  those  who  were  best  acquainted  with  the  Smith  family, 
ami  most  conversant  with  all  the  (void  Bible  movements,  that  there  is  no 
foundation  for  the  statement  that  their  original  manuscript  was  written  by  a 
Mr.  Spaulding,  of  Ohio.  A  supplemen  !l  Bible,  '-'IV  Book 'of 

Commandments"  in  all  probability,  was  written  by  Kigdon,  and  h<«  may  have, 
aided  by  Spanlding's  manuscripts;  but  the  book  itself  is  without  doubt, 
a  production  of  the  Smith  family,  aided  by  Oliver  Cowdery,  y.ho  M;;<  a  school 
teacher  on  Stafford  street,  an  intimate  of  the  Smith  family,  and  ideniiiied 
•with  the  whole  matter.  The  production  as  all  will  com-hide,  vJio  have  read 
it,  or  ev,  n  given  it  a  cursory  iv\  ie\v,  is  not  that  of  an  educated  man  or  wo- 
man. The  bungling  attempt  to  counterfeit  the  style  of  the  Scriptures;  the 
intermixture  of  modern  phraseology  ;  tln-igii-  r.'.i.vof  ehronol-.^v  and-. 
phy;  its  utter  crudeness  and  baldix^s  .•:-  a  \  p  its  character,  and 

clearly  exhibits  its  vulgar  origin.    It  is  a  strange  medley  of  scriptures  n  •;  < 
and  bad  composition. 

The  primitive  designs  of  Mrs.  Smith,  her  hu>ban  !,  Jo  and  Oowdn-y,  was 
money-making;  bl.-mled  with  which  perhaps  wa-  a  desire  for  .  tobe 

obtained  by  a  cheat  and  a  fraud.     The  idea  of  being  the  founders  of  a  net 
W«8  an  after  thought,  in  which  they  were  aided  bv  others 


*  To  soften  the  use  of  such  an  expression,  tlio  reader  should  lie  reminded  tliat  np- 
prcntices  in  printing  officei  have  since  the  days  of  Faust  and  C.otU'iiberg,  been  thus 
called,  and  sometimes  it  was  not  inappropriate, 


PIFKLPS    AM)    GORHAMS   PURCHASE. 


The  projectors  of  the  humbug,  b.-ini;-  d«-(ituto  of  moans  for  carrying  out 
their  plans,  a  victim  \\as  selected  to  obviate  that  difficulty.  Martin  Hani*, 
was  a  farmer  of  Palmyra,  the  own.  I  larm,  and  an  lionet  worthy 

citi/en;  b:it  especially  given  to  religions  enthusiasm,  n«-w  nv.-dN  ih»  mo;-- 
extravagant  tin-  belt«-r;  a  monomaniac,  in  ta«-i.  ,los"ph  Smith  upon  whom 
the  mantle  of  prophecy  had  fallen  after  the  sad  fate  of  Alva,  heg.-m  to  make 
demonstrations  He  informed  Harris  of  ill.'  great  diseovery,  and  tint  it  had 
'  aen  reveal"!  to  him,  that  he  (Harris,)  was  a  chosen  instrument  to  aid  in  the 

eat  work  of  surprising  the  world  with  a  new  revelation.     They  had  hit  up- 

tho  right  man.     lie  mortgaged  his  tine  farm  to  ]>ay  for  printing  lh- 
ssumcd  a  irrave,  mysterious,  and  unearthly  d"portment,  and  made  h«:iv  and 
'  ere  among  his  acquaintances  solemn  annunciations  of  the  j^r-at  event  that 
was  transpiring.     His  version  of  th«>  discovery,  as  communicated  t->  li- 
the Prophet  Joseph   himself,  is  well  remembered   by  several   respertab 
/ens  of  Palmyra,  to  whom  he  made  early  disclosures.     It  was  in  sub-.; 
fallows: 

The  Prophet  Joseph,  was  directed  by  an  anp,-el  where  to  find,  by  excava- 
tion, at  the  place  afterwards  called  Mormon  Hill,  the  gold  plates:  ;md  was 
compelled  by  the  anuyl,  much  against  his  will,  to  be  the  interpr-  I 

record  they  contained,  an(J  publish  it  to  the  world.     That  the  plates 
eontained  a  record  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this  country.    •  -d    by 

Mormon,  the  son  of  NVphi."    •  That  on  the  top  of  the  box  containing  the  plaKs, 
•i  pair  of  large  spot-rides  were  found,  the  ^ouos  or  glass  set  in  which  were 
.    a'jue  to  all  but  the  Prophet,"  that  lt  these  belonged  toMovm-n,  the  engra- 
ver of  the  plates,  and  without  them,  the  plates  could  not  bo  read."     1  1. 
siimed,  that  himself  and  Cowdor    were  the  chosen  amanuenses,  and  that  th« 


.  ..>ph"t  .b>s..ph,  curtained  from  the  world  and  them,  with  his 
from  the  gold  plates  what  they  committed  to  paper.     Harris  exhibited  to  an 
iformant  of  the  author,  the  manuscript  title  page.     On  it  W&e  drav.n.  rudely 
d  bunglmirly,  concentric  circles  b.-tween  above  and  below  which  were  char- 
era;  with  Tittle  resemblance  to  letters;  apparently  a  miserable  imitation  of 
hieroglyphics,  the  writer  may  have  somewhere  seen.     To  guard  against  pro 

ne  curiosity,  the  Prophet  had  given  out  that  no  one  but  him<e't;  n- 
lis  chosen  co-operators,  must  be  permitted  to  see  them,  -n  pain  of  in-tant 
death.  Harris  had  never  seen  the  plates,  but  the  glowing  account  <>f  their 
i\o  richness  excited  other  than  spiritual  hopes,  and  he  up--n  one  OCtasion, 
got  a  village  silver-smith  to  help  him  estimate  their  value;  taking  as  aj-ask 
the  Prophet's  account  of  their  dimensions.  It  was  a  blending  of  the  spiritual 
and  utilitarian,  that  threw  a  shadow  of  doubt  upon  Martin's  sin-eiity.^  This 
and  some  anticipations  he  indulged  in,  as  to  the  profits  that  would  arise  from 
the  sale  of  the  Gold  Bible,  made  it  then,  as  it  is  now,  a  mooted  (mention. 
whether  he  was  altogether  a  dupe. 

The  wife  of  Harris  was  a  rank  infidel  and  heretic,  touching  the  whole  thing, 
and  decidedly  opposed  to  her  husband's  participation  in  it.  V.'ith  saeriligicu- 
hands  she  sJi/ed  over  an  liundr.-d  of  the  manuscript  pages  of  the  new  reve- 
lation, and  biinv-d  or  secreted  them.  It-  was  agreed  by  the  Smith  family, 
Cpwdery  and  Harris,  not  to  transeribo  these  again,,  but  to  let  so  much  of  the 
;v\dati.m  drop  out,  as  the  "evil  spirit  would  g"t  up  a  story  that,  the 
second  translation  did  iv>t  agree  with  the  first.'1  A  very  ingenious  i; 
Mirely,  of  «aiarding  against  the  possibility  that  Mrs.  Harri<  had  preserved  the 


ELPS   A20)    GOIUIAMS   PUBCHASE. 


itation  of  their  own  ini--i 

pl'li.-  Proph.-t  did  not  -N't  his  h— on  w<-il  upon  the  start,  or  the  h»  uphold  ,.f 
impostors  wciv  in  the  fault.  After  he  had  toM  his  M..ry,  in  \i\<  abs«-nc",  the, 
rc.-t  ot'th*'  family  made  a  i..  v.  rersion  of  it  to  ,.ik'  «>f  their  neighbors.  : 

1    him  such  a   |  may  any  -lay  !>.•  picked  up  on   tin-  -dioiv  of 

•  -:      -tlio  common  horn  blend — carefully  wrapped  in  cotton.  and 
;epi  in  a    imsierious  box.     Thvy  said  it  was  by  looking  at  this  stone,   in   a 
.   *i.    K  ..!.»  0!a.|u,i,.d,  that  Joseph  discovered  tlu-  j-latcs.     This  it  \vill  be  ol>- 
uiut-is  materially  from  .los.-j.h's    story  of  th<-  anu\-l.     It  was  tlu-  same 
stoin.'  the  Smiths'  ha<l  used  in  money  diir 
c-ri.-s  of  -t"U-ii  jirojiorty. 

Longln-fore  the  Gold  ]>il-le  demonstration,  the  Smith  family  had  with  some 
sini^tAr  nl.i.'ct  in  view,  whispered  another  fraud  in  the  cars  »jf  the  credulous. 

„  .KI..-.I  that  in  di^iiur  for  money,  at  Mormon  Hill,  tlu-y  «.-aj: 
,  tl..ve  by  two  feet  in  si/e,  covered  with  a  dark  colored  stone.     In  the 
,,,>-•  of  the  stone  was   a  white  spot   about  the  size  of  a  sixpence.     Knlaru:- 
iir,  the  spot  increase*  I  to  the  size  of  a  twenty  four  pound  shot  and  then  explo- 
ded with  a  terril.le  noise.     The  chest  vanished  and  all  was  utter  darki. 

It  may  be  satVly  pr.-snmed  that  in  no  other  instance  have  Prophets  and  tlu* 
cho-cn  und  d'-sin'iiak-d  "f  an^-'K  b.-t-n  imite  as  calculating  and  worldly  as  were 
-  tlford  street,  Mormon  Hill,  and  Palmyra.     The  only  business  con- 
tract —  veritable  instrument  in  writinu',  that  w  as  ever  executed  by  spiritual 
•••vnts,    lias  been  pivs-r\ed,  and  should  be  amon^  the  archives  of  the  new 
•'  Ttah.     It  is  signed  by  the  Prophet  Joseph  himself,  and  witr. 

xlery,  and  secures  to  Martin  Harris,  one  half  of  the  proceeds  <>f 
the  sale  of  the  Gold  Bible  until  he  was  fully  reimbursed  in  the  sum  of  82,500, 

itini^. 

The  after  thought  that  lias  been  alluded  to  ;  the  enlarging  of  original  in- 
i  at  the  suggestion  of  Sidney  Rigdon,  of  Ohio,  wdio  ma<! 

.  blendeirhimself  with  the  poorly  d.-\.ised  scheme   of  impos- 
:  time  the  book  was  issued  from  the  press.     lie  unworthily  bore 
ipti>t  eldc-r,  but  had  by  some  previous  freak,  if  the  author  is 
formed,  forfeited  his  standing  with  that  respectable  religious  den«>m- 
)esiirnincr»  ambitious  and  di.-honest.  under  the  semblance  of  sanc- 
ne«l  spirituality,  he  was  just  the  man  for  the  uses  of  the  Smith 
•hold  and  their  half  dupe  and  half  designing  abettors;  and  the } 

istruments  he  desired.     He  became  at  once  tlio  Hamlet,  or  more 
"priately  perhaps,  the  Mav.worm  of  the  play.     Like  the  veiled  Prophet 
I  may  be  supposed  thus  to  have  soliloquised  :  — 

"Ye  too,  "believers  of  incredible  creeds, 
"NVh<.v  f:;iili  enshrines  thu  nmnstors  which  it  breeds; 
V.  '.r,  event! 

Bv  :  -       '  .!])t'd  (' 


Your  martvrs  ready  to  shed  out  their  blood 


PIEELPS    AXD    GOIIilAMS    PURCHASE. 


For  truths  too  li».ivenlv  to  l>c 


They  sliai! 

Fur  K  -ivo  hy 

i  loti' 

"Will  Ii  si)  4'Ie  vt>; 
While  oral. u-r  < 

the  au-j'i--  -  '  -n.  a  ii" 

prophecies  loll  thick  and  fast  ftomthe  lips  .-f  .1.  -'ph  :  old  M;s.  S; 

i  all   the  airs  of    i  r    < 

Smiths  \\eiv  -iiu'led  <-u:  and  beca 
saki-s.      The  b;;l  i.  rlum-y 
nomaniae  or  a  knavr.  in  and  ar«  un  1  it-  prim:"'  h--l;«  it  upon  its 

;  an  I  a    »n,  likt;  anot!  (tliat  h.id  a  lit; 

uitv  and  plausibility  in  it.)  it  had  its    IK-^iia.  u»  KirJan d;  t: 

Nauv«i  ;   tinn  t«>  a  >  4-  plaeo   ii  ri — and   th.-n   vi\  bv« 

.  cr    tiie    - 

.  and  tin::!:.  .  h:no  ari.-  •  Converts  have; 

multiplied  t«>  tens  of  thousand.-,     fa  several  of  the  count  •  tli.-re 

are  preachers  and  organi/.--.  Mormons  ;  bv.-lii.-\«-:-s  in  tli-.-d-i^n  •  mission 

of  Joseph  Sjiiith  k  Co. 

And  here  the  subject  mi  :  'y  — 

with  a  M';Miiiii£  levity  —  it   is'b»'eaii*e  it  will  a  hnit  of  n> 
There  is  n  >  dignity  about  the  whol<  thinir  ;  I  ;  t  to  mill 

iso.nt.     It  d  :.  »ne  »«f  the  charity 

.  for   knavery  and  fraud  has  been  with  i,  i 
ivolv.      It  h:\sn  »t  »-\vn  tliep-.tiii-niv-rit  «>f  : 
the  a^-j.      Fa'iatl. •:>:>_!    promoted    it  at    '' 
then  the  designs  of  <L-nvi'_;<>L!;u''s  who  \\i- 

itsfol;  Mil  finally   an  Am/riean  t'--i.  .  ;.n  1 

iinpc-sUi  i:  by  \[<  acts,  ai  to  ha\<-  a  Biate  «.•['  '  -n  — 

in  this  boast*' 1  era  «•!'  light  and  kn  ..  r\    name  «  f  v.hi-.-h  wiil 

emotion  and  dignify  the  fraud  and  fal-eliood  (»f  M.-nnon  Hill,  the  ^old  j 
and  the  spurious  revelation.     This  much,  at  least,   might  have  been    omitted 
out  of  decent  respect  to  the  moral  and  religious  sense  of  thej>eople  of  tin 
old  states. 


FARMING-TON 


Township  No.  11,  R.  3,  (now  Farming  on,)  was  the  first  sale  of 
Phelps  and  Gorham.  The  purchasers  were  :  —  Nathan  Comstock, 
Benjamin  Russell,  Abraham  Lapham,  Edmund  Jenks,  Jeremiah 
Brown,  Ephraim  Fish,  Nathan  Ilcrendeen,  Nathan  Ahlrich,  Ste- 
phen Smith,  Benjamin  Ilickenson,  Williain  Baker  and  Dr.  Daniel 
Brown.  The  deed  was  given  to  Nathan  Comstock,  and  Benjah,  ^ 


